Salt Baked Chicken (Yim Kuk Kai)

Salt Baked Chicken (18th Mar 2012)

If you've been to Ipoh, about 2 hours drive north of Kuala Lumpur, you'll be sure to stop by a shop called Aun Kheng Lim to buy this wonderfully fragrant salt baked chicken. I'm not going to blog about it as there are already hundreds who have. Do google the place and if you have the time, take a food trip to Ipoh as there are plenty of really good food there!

I've always been interested in the salt baking method but I was told that the course salt would ruin my wok. So it was sheer luck that I found myself a Japanese Volcanic Stone Pot. 'Sigh'... I get suckered into buying kitchen stuff all the time but this really big pot seemed like a good buy! And it comes with a mini pot free! Hahaha....

Anyway, with my new sturdy pot, I had an even stronger urge to try and replicate the famous Ipoh salt baked chicken! I always love a good challenge :)

Verdict:            The flavour is spot on! The chicken meat just falls off the bone. 

Improvement:  I've really got to know how to choose my kampung chicken. As you can see from the above picture, this one has fat thighs... which means it may not be a genuine one, just a really tiny chicken!

This one turned out really tasty and it is a kampung chicken! (14 Apr 2012)

Salt Baked Chicken Recipe

Fry the coarse salt

Wrap chicken in parchment paper

Place chicken onto 1/2 the salt before covering with the other 1/2

Cut the top part of the paper so that the juices do not flow out

Ingredients:

1 kg or less Kampung Chicken (Free Range Chicken)

1 tbsp Fine Salt for rubbing

3 slices of ginger

5-10 pieces of Dong Kwai, Chinese angelica root 

2 tbsp of Shao Hsing Wine

2 kg of Coarse Salt

Tools:

1 old wok /really big old pot

Ice pick, to chip of salt

Parchment/Baking Paper

Method:

1. Clean and pat dry the chicken. 
2. Rub salt and wine all over the chicken and in its cavity.
3. Place the ginger and Dong Kwai into the chicken cavity and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours.
4. Heat up the wok and pour all the course salt in. Fry the salt until hot.
5. Remove half the salt from the wok and make a well in the centre but make sure the bottom of the wok is still lined with salt.
6. Wrap the chicken with parchment paper like a parcel. Place chicken in the middle of well.
7. Pour the rest of the salt on top of the chicken.
8. Bake for 1 hour on low heat. 
9. Chip away the top layer of salt with your ice pick. Turn the chicken around and cover the chicken again. Bake for another hour.
10. When serving, cut the top of the parchment paper instead of peeling of the paper so that the juices are retained.